


Strong at the Core

by whiteraven1606



Series: Three [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Dehumanization, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Force Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Multi, Past Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protectiveness, Stormtrooper Culture, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 21:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6130620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe was blaming the trap on Captain Phasma. Captain Phasma? She was blaming the entire thing on Commander Dameron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strong at the Core

****

Luke started awake and then lay back down with a low moan.

"I'm thinking you probably don't want to make Satine mad at you."

"Probably." Luke squinted up at Rey holding a cup towards him. "Did it backlash through any of the children?"

Rey shook her head as he took the cup from her. "No. I felt it, like I said before you fell asleep. Finn was shaking, but I don't know if that was because he had to be near the General or if it was from you."

Luke hummed as he sat up enough to be able to take a sip. "Probably from being near Leia. The sort of terror he was fighting during the meeting about going to Corellia isn't something you get over in one sitting."

Rey sat down across from Luke. "The rathtars scared him like that."

"Rathtars?" Luke frowned as he sat down the cup with a slight tremble in his hand. "When were there rathtars?"

Rey made a face as she took the cup and moved to refill it. "After we left Jakku and before we went to Maz's castle where I found the blue lightsaber." She tilted her head. "How did Maz get it? Every story I hear about it says you lost it in a fight and made the green lightsaber you use now to replace it."

"I did lose it." Luke scrubbed the fingers of his left hand across his face. "I don't know how Maz got it. We don't really talk. She climbed on me the first time we met and I didn't react well."

"She practically climbed onto Finn. She said she'd lived long enough to see the same eyes in different faces."

"I wouldn't doubt it." Luke took the cup back and sipped. "You still feel alright?"

With a nod, Rey ran her hands across her thighs down to her knees. "Yes. I slept for a few minutes. I feel normal now."

"Good." Luke sighed. "Han still here?"

"I think so. Finn said he and Leia were arguing and he was going to check on Poe a little while ago."

Luke snorted. "That sounds normal at least." He smoothed down the wrinkles in his tunic. "Satine?"

"She didn't even flinch from what Finn said." Rey frowned. "I have a question."

With a smile, Luke took another drink. "I'm betting more than one question." He gave her a nod. "Go ahead."

"When I went to check on Poe and Finn while we were still on Ahch-To..." She frowned at him. "Does the way it appear mean anything?"

"The way what appears?"

Rey nodded. "Poe's version of the _Falcon_ and the hangar bay with the forcefield...Does it matter when it changes?"

Luke cocked his head. "It..." He blinked several times. "You see solid shapes in that state?"

"Yes?" Rey shifted as she looked at Luke with a confused expression. "You don't see shapes?"

"Light and a few dark spots. Feelings. I get a lot of noise when I project like that. You were very bright. Like what you said about me, only not quite as big, but that's going to change as you train."

"Oh." Rey scratched at where her sleeve ended. "Uhm. Poe, Finn, Kaleine, and I all see Poe's ship. We've seen Satine too, but I'm not sure what she sees."

"Poe...Finn..." Luke leaned back into the cushions of the couch. "All of you see the...same thing?"

"I think so." Rey used her hands to block out shapes. "Kaleine doesn't go in the ship. She's got hiding places ranged around it. I've counted and I think she's got a spot of each of the ex-Stormtroopers. Satine dances around the spots, but she seems to avoid stepping on them. Finn's usually inside the ship with Poe and BB-8."

"And you?"

"Until last time I've stayed outside the ship with my staff on my dune. I always have Jakku sand with me. It stays under me even when I'm sprinting, like when I headed back towards you."

"Last time?"

Rey nodded. "Poe pulled me through the forcefield into the hangar in his ship. I noticed a difference in the tree at the back and then it went hazy. I woke up."

Luke thumbed his eyebrow. "Tree?"

"Yeah, there's a big tree at the back of..." Rey blinked. "Is that why Satine is calling Poe the Keeper of the Tree?"

With a frown, Luke leaned forward to rest his forearms on top of his legs. "Possibly."

****

Captain Phasma stared at the negative report on the second search of the _Finalizer_. The last attempt at getting an answer from their new agents on Corellia had ended with Phasma wanting to slice someone's throat. She flicked through the reports from the ship crash that had killed the contingent with Boost.

It just made no sense why that pilot would risk so much for a single Trooper box. She thumbed through the comm channels until she had the Repeating Roll on. Phasma scrolled through the reports absently as she calculated how long General Hux was going to dither before ordering the _Finalizer_ to report to the Supreme Leader since they were unable to receive orders through channels since their Code Six was failing to authenticate anything.

Phasma frowned and blinked as Boost's voice smoothly flowed into the FN series. She flicked the volume up and listened intently as Boost's cadance took on more speed. She swallowed and flicked through the reports from Corellia until she found the list of ships that had been on planet that day. She filtered for known Resistance aligned ships. She frowned as Boost listed several names in the JY series as she waited on the search to compile.

She sat back as the results appeared on her screen. The Resistance had Boost.

****

Leia sat back in her chair as Han picked at the edge of his faintly glowing jacket. "Done fighting already?"

Han frowned as he fingered the hem of his jacket. "I don't want to fight anymore, Leia."

She smiled thinly as he glanced up at her. "It's a little late to change our habits, don't you think?"

He huffed a laugh and frowned harder as he pulled on the flap of a pocket. "Probably." He bit his lip. "You ever do something and only later realize just how bad you screwed it up?"

"Of course. You've seen me rail about my mistakes." Leia nodded at him when he jerked his head up to look at her. "What are you worrying about?"

"I'm not worrying."

"Uh huh." Leia leaned her elbow on the arm of her seat and put her chin in her hand. "What do you think you screwed up?"

Han jumped to his feet and started to pace. "You remember Mara Jade?"

"How could I forget?" Leia narrowed her eyes. "What about her?"

"I think I might be the reason Rey was left on Jakku."

Leia wrinkled her nose. "What?"

Han flopped back down on the couch. "Mara blew through a few years before I lost the _Falcon_ fussing about Luke's first lightsaber. We saw each other at Maz's right after my ship had been stolen, but Mara was all business, didn't even say hello." He waved a hand around. "But, then...Right before we sent Ben to Luke she showed up on a smuggling run of mine. Knew the new ship for mine without introductions."

"Sounds like Mara."

Han nodded. "She got motion sick when we shifted to lightspeed." He glanced over a Leia. "Reminded me of you with Ben, but she wouldn't admit to being pregnant. She bruised my ribs for the mere suggestion and lit out as soon as we landed. Six years later she comms me desperate for a hiding place."

Leia leaned back.

"Yeah." Han sighed. "I thought she'd run from Ben's rampage or something. I told her Jakku was a useless enough planet no one would check for her there. I didn't give it another thought until after meeting Rey."

"I thought Luke was just being...Luke about Rey." Leia rubbed at her eyes. "You think Mara didn't tell him."

"You think Luke would have hidden a child of his on a desert planet with no one else to watch over her?"

Leia shook her head, she wouldn't have thought Mara would leave the child unprotected. "No." She sighed. "Mara hasn't talked to you since?"

Han frowned down at his glowing hands. "Last I heard of her. Luke mention her at all?"

"No, but then you know how tight lipped he gets when something hurts him." Leia stood up and moved over to the couch. "Move over."

Han shifted and sighed as Leia leaned against him. "She's powerful enough to block Rey's connection with the Force, right?"

"She was an Emperor's Hand, so I'd think so, but I'd have to ask Luke to be sure. Do you have an idea were Mara might have gone?"

"No, and that's what worries me."

****

Zeroes followed the little as she sped through the corridors. They caught up to Finn and Commander Poe at the door of the General's quarters.

"Poe! Poe!"

Commander Poe caught up the little and lifted her clear off the floor into his arms. "Whoa there. Where's the incoming fire?"

The little leaned into Commander Poe's side. "Satine changed the names."

Finn looked at Zeroes from behind Poe. "Is it live?"

Zeroes nodded. "Looks like it. We tuned the little's comm to the Timing Channel and the JY's have names for Jaydavi's squadron. She put my new name in too."

"Kriffing hell." Commander Poe made a face and dropped his head to the top of the little's head. "Don't repeat that, Kaleine."

She huffed. "It's on the prohibited words list. I know not to use it."

Finn touched Commander Poe's shoulder. "Tree or Roll first?"

"Dad just said it is starting to bloom. That can wait. Repeating Roll first." He turned and caught Finn's forearm. "You okay to talk to her?"

Zeroes frowned as Finn swallowed.

"I'll be fine. The more I talk to her and she doesn't... _do_ anything the more it wears off."

Zeroes blinked several times. "You _talk_ to the General?"

The little tilted her head. "Sure?" She turned towards Commander Poe. "Is it bad to talk to her?"

Commander Poe brushed the little's hair back with his free hand. "No, it is never bad to talk to the Princess General. I think you got out young enough not to be as afraid of higher ranking officers as Finn and Korro."

Finn echoed Commander Poe's hand through the little's hair. "It's Phase Two. No one seems to have the same amount of fear I do."

Zeroes shook his head as Commander Poe eyed him over the little's head. "I don't like reporting, but I can do it." He nodded towards Finn. "After we passed to Phase Three he got to the point where you could tell he was terrified."

Finn shrugged as Commander Poe turned towards him. "Each time we resized armor it seemed to get worse. It wasn't like I had anyone I could talk to about it."

Zeroes frowned. "Only after armor refittings?"

Finn shrugged as Commander Poe knocked on the General's door. "Same thing with the headaches, which I don't get any longer."

Commander Poe frowned at Finn. "Headaches?"

"Come in!"

Zeroes would have stayed in the corridor, but the little grabbed ahold of his sleeve at the last moment and pulled him forward with the others.

"Poe?"

Zeroes stared at the faintly glowing man next to the General on her couch. He recognized him as General Solo from the Enemy list, but he'd thought the man had been reported dead.

"We've got a problem. Satine updated the Repeating Roll."

"Oh, rancor shit." The General dropped her face into her hand and eyed them with one eye. "Don't repeat that, Kaleine."

The little wiggled until Commander Poe put her down. "I know the prohibited list, thank you." She poked General Solo on the knee. "Still dead?"

General Solo's eyebrows rose. "Pretty sure I'm going to stay that way." He turned his head towards the General. "I know you said ex-Stormtrooper kids, but..." He waved at the little. "Seriously?"

The General dropped her hand to pat the little's shoulder. "Don't mind him, dear." She looked up at the rest of them. "Options?"

Finn gripped the back of Commander Poe's shirt as he shook his head. "Not good ones. Changing the Roll means the Sixes have to be rolled to the new algorithm the Roll's data provides. If she didn't send the Change Ping ahead of the new data none of the Sixes will be working except ours."

Zeroes shoved down his apprehension at speaking without being ordered to do so and stepped forward half a step. "I don't think she sent the Change Ping. None of the patches she had up at the time were for a fleet wide Ping."

The General focused on him and Zeroes kept himself from sidestepping behind Commander Poe by locking his knees. "Korro, do you know all the patches she can use?"

He blinked at her knowing his new name. "Not all of them. I'd need the other three Patch Troopers to have all the patches, but my section includes the Pings."

The little tugged on Finn's shirt. "Is there such a thing as an Encryption Trooper? Korro didn't know."

"What?"

The General waved at the other seats. "Everyone find a seat." She went to her door and stuck her head out into the corridor. "Find me the Signal Officer of the day." She came back and pushed on Poe. "Sit."

Zeroes settled on the floor next to the little between Finn and Poe to keep everyone from arguing about where they were going to sit.

"Encryption Trooper?"

Zeroes looked up at Finn as he shrugged. "I don't know either." He looked to the General. "I've not heard of it."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Lieutenant Connix leaned in the open door. "Ma'am? Captain Romi called. They are going to be inspected in two days. He says it came in on an open channel."

Zeroes frowned as the little went up onto her knees.

"That's not good, right?"

General Solo tilted his head. "Who's Captain Romi?"

Commander Poe rubbed at his eyes. "He's the commanding officer of a First Order training base. He gave us the new X-Wings and the freighter they came in." He peered through his fingers at the General. "Kiff."

Zeroes frowned. "What?"

Finn rubbed his hand over the top of his head. "What do we do? The kids have cleaned most of the hull and started repainting it."

"No chance they won't notice?"

Finn made a face and turned towards Lieutenant Connix. "Did he say who was inspecting?"

She nodded. "He said it was going to be Captain Phasma."

Finn groaned. "She'll notice if it's gone." He blinked. "She's going to recognize it from the fight over D'Qar even if we get it back to them."

Zeroes raised a hand. "Does the freighter matter? The Roll is different and the littles came from his base, right? So, she knows we have Boost."

Finn touched his shoulder. "Satine."

"I've called her Boost for years. Just remembering to call you Finn takes a lot of work."

Finn patted him, which felt very weird. "I know."

Zeroes sighed.

"It's a trap no matter what you do, Leia."

After dismissing Lieutenant Connix, the General moved to sit next to General Solo. "Yes, Han. I know."

Commander Poe leaned back deeper into his seat. "What if we go in anyway?"

Zeroes turned his head to frown up at the crazy man. "What?"

Commander Poe made a face as he shrugged. "She knows we have Satine, but the sensors at D'Qar haven't alarmed. She gave Captain Romi warning on a channel we could hear if we'd been monitoring the base, right?" He leaned forward. "The base is burnt either way. We have less than two days to evacuate them."

"Where am I going to put them, Poe?"

He shook his head. "We don't have enough ships to get them out anywhere we take them. I don't know. If we can keep from shooting long enough to talk to her, maybe we can figure out why she's going about it this way? I don't know, General."

The little shifted on her knees. "Why evacuate off planet? The tunnels are more than big enough for everybody, right?"

Zeroes exchanged glances with Finn. He bit his lip as he thought. "Trapping everyone in the tunnels doesn't help."

"No." She huffed. "You make them think everyone's gone. That's what the Tunnel Protocol is for."

The General pulled a datareader from a nearby stack. "Tunnel Protocol? I swear I've read the whole manual..."

Finn waved her down. "It's a verbal only order. Never written down."

Zeroes nodded. "Everyone goes to the tunnels and you close up the base to look like it has been abandoned."

"You're looking at it wrong." General Solo shook his head. "You're assuming she thinks the whole base is sided with the Resistance." He put his forearms on his knees and leaned towards them. "What if she doesn't know?"

Commander Poe drummed his fingers on his own knee. "So...She inspects like normal, but when she gets to a half-painted freighter, then we say 'oh, hi' at her?"

General Solo made a face. "Sure. I say you plop that space bantha down a few feet off of where she'd been before. Put one X-Wing in her holding bay and you," He pointed at Commander Poe, "In front of the X-Wing in a nice comfy chair facing the hatch. Captain Romi claims the damn thing was stolen and he reported it, did she get that report, and oh, sorry, it showed back up just before you arrived, Captain."

The General cocked her head. "That could work." She looked at Zeroes. "Do you think that Captain Phasma would fire first and ask questions later?"

He blinked at being directly addressed. "I...don't think so. She'd shoot you if she's ordered to, but Commander Poe is listed as capture alive on the Enemy List last I knew."

The General looked at Commander Poe. "It's a huge gamble."

He shrugged. "Distracting her might be the way to keep the base intact."

Zeroes fingered the scar on his cheek. "As long as she doesn't see sympathizers in the base's personnel, Captain Phasma won't give a report that'd bring down a Death Notice on the whole base."

Finn nodded.

General Solo lifted his eyebrows. "You sure?" He gestured at Finn. "Bigshot here seemed pretty gleeful to be putting her down a garbage chute."

The General turned her head to stare at General Solo. "Garbage chute?" She turned back with a slight smile. "I want to hear all about it later."

Finn ducked his head. "I was pretty happy. The Captain always used me as her example Trooper."

"She doesn't like losing people for no reason." Zeroes dropped his hand from his scar as everyone looked at him. "Battle or because of orders is fine, but losing everyone at the base without conclusive proof they were traitors is something else." He turned towards Finn. "You remember how she was when those four Elites were struck down by the Supreme Leader when he was so mad a Kylo Ren that one time."

Finn nodded. "I remember. She paced for days and snapped at everyone." He looked at the General. "We can't evacuate them fast enough and hiding them gives her reason for a Death Notice. We have to bluff."

The General nodded. "Well, you seem to be pretty good at that." She looked at Commander Poe. "Set it up tomorrow. Use the X-Wing we've been stripping for parts. While you're there see if you can get a set of armor for Trooper Korro, and get their numbers on supplies required so I can pass them to Maz for us to prep to get them out before this happens again."

General Solo sat up. "Leia, can we afford that? The Clan's bargain ends in a couple of more years."

The General smiled down at the little. "Well, the Solo heir did get us eight more decades on current terms with your last two major debts paid off, Han."

General Solo turned to stare down at the little. "Eight decades? Really?"

She grinned up at them. "The Hutt was very smelly, but Poe didn't say anything so I didn't either and he was terrified of the Princess General's name. She said it was because she choked his father to death with a chain."

General Solo blinked several times before turning towards Commander Poe. "You took her into a negotiation with a _Hutt_? Are you insane?"

Commander Poe cupped his hands around the little's tiny shoulders. "I didn't _know_ I was going to talk to a Hutt and she did great. She only threatened him with death once."

General Solo shook his head as he rubbed at his forehead. "He's still young for Hutt, I suppose." He dropped his hand. "Wait...current terms?" He turned towards the General. "How much of that are you burning for this place?"

The General shrugged. "For the entire Resistance we're using about thirty percent. That's why I need to talk to Maz. I've set aside at least fifteen percent for helping any Stormtroopers that decide they don't want to stay with us." She nodded towards him. "Half of it is currently going towards keeping the galaxy from falling into another Civil War since we've lost a major swath of the central government."

"The last five precent?"

The General smiled at him. "Goes into savings."

General Solo rolled his eyes. "Savings."

"Yes, Han, savings." The General looked at him. "Trooper Korro, are you willing to go with Poe on this mission?"

He straightened up as he considered it. "If I'm found out, I die."

"Yes, I know that. You'd suffer very badly before you were allowed to die, I would guess."

Zeroes lifted his chin slightly. "I'm a Resistance Trooper now. I'll go where you order, Princess General."

She huffed. "Commander, I'm still considering blowing up your X-Wing."

Commander Poe covered his mouth with his hand. "I know."

"If I called you that you'd kill me."

"Han!"

General Solo made a face Zeroes recognized from when he'd spoken to Pava. "Too soon, huh?"

The General shook her head at him with an expression Zeroes didn't know the name for, but he knew it wasn't favorable. "Finn and Poe, go gather up Luke and try to explain to Satine not to work without telling us what she's planning on doing. Someone get me Pava and find out where my Signal Officer has gotten to." She made shooing motions at them. "Out, out. I need to tell my husband how little tact he has and it's going to involve a lot of prohibited words."

Zeroes grabbed up the little and followed Finn out of the General's quarters. "She's very weird."

Finn grinned at him. "Yeah."

Zeroes smiled back over the little's head as she started to wiggle to get down. "I like her too."

Finn's grin widened. "I'm glad." He caught Zeroes' elbow. "She doesn't give orders unless she thinks you can follow them."

He nodded and nudged Finn towards Commander Poe. "I won't disappoint her."

The little tugged on the edge of his shirt. "What's tact?"

"I'm not really sure." Zeroes looked down at her. "Come on, Kaleine. Let's find Jaydavi. I need to go over how your old base differs from the one I grew up at. I'm going to have to keep Commander Poe alive while we're there."

****

TA-175 folded itself into the outer hull compartment of the _Millennium Falcon_ that was just big enough for a unit to fit into. It had a directive to complete.

****

Jessika Pava stared at General Solo's Force ghost pacing behind the General. "So...Kann wasn't wrong. That's good to know."

"Who?"

The General sat a cup of tea in front of Jess. "One of the ex-Stormtrooper children. They pass information like a gossip tree, but they don't seem to distort the information along the way."

Jess nodded. "Snap and I tested it using dinner times. I think we half-convinced them Snap can't remember anything. And considering what Korro said about they not having informational displays and just remembering the whole week's schedule from a single announcement, I wouldn't doubt they can pass information without any changes."

"Huh." General Solo went back to pacing. "Leia, they're just kids."

"Hmm." The General regarded Jess. "I need you to backup Poe, Korro, and Finn into a trap."

Jess took a sip of her tea. "Trap?"

The General filled her in on their insane plan.

Jess put her cup down. "That's a trap alright. We don't have the ship capacity to evacuate them even if we could get them out without someone alerting the First Order."

"We think Captain Phasma is more concerned with us having Satine. I'm hopeful as long as she stays concerned about Satine we can keep her from realizing the base is ours."

She shook her head. "They always know. Remember the last agent we got into the First Order? Last I knew we only got back part of them."

"Yes, I know the odds."

General Solo stopped pacing. "No, no. Don't worry about the odds beforehand." He leaned over the back of the couch. "Hey, Luke mentioned talking to his father. I seem to have to obey walls, but does he?"

Jess grinned. "The kid Force ghost doesn't."

The General dropped her tea. "You've seen him?"

"Yeah. I've seen glimpses of him. " Jess picked the General's tea cup off the floor. "Can Force ghosts be invisible? If we knew what Captain Phasma's thinking it'd help. Right?"

****

Mara Jade Skywalker started awake as something started to beep. She rubbed her eyes and frowned as she located the offending console. Her Code Six was beeping. Mara pressed the sequence to request a status report and stared at the readout.

_Six Accepted. Feed Authenticated. Keep Save?_

She thumbed the reload button and waited until the Code Six had rebooted and asked it again.

_Six Accepted. Feed Authenticated. Keep Save?_

Mara wiped at the sudden tears on her cheeks and selected _Wait_. She curled back up and tried to go back to sleep.

****

Captain Phasma stepped off the transport and allowed her escort to accept base personnel into their numbers. She stopped as the Commander approached.

"Captain. We've had an incident this morning that I've been unable to report to High Command."

She frowned beneath her helmet. "Incident?"

"The X-Wing carrier reappeared a few feet from where it has alway sat."

Phasma blinked and cocked her head slightly as she regarded the Commander. She touched a control to bring up his vitals on her helmet's readout. "Have you searched it?"

"No, Captain. We don't have the personnel free since the...last incident."

She watched him for a full minute before flicking her fingers at one of her Troopers. "Keep the Commander safe."

"Yes, Captain."

The Commander nodded to her and followed Phasma's Trooper down the hall. Another of the base's Troopers slipped into the vacancy on her escort.

Phasma mentally frowned at the ill fit of the Trooper's upper arm armor. "Trooper, get refitted for armor. You'll lose an elbow the way you are going now."

The Trooper inclined their head as Phasma swept past them to head down the hallway. They passed littles marching in the main corridor. Phasma watched them without turning her head and commended them for their form at such a young age.

Approaching the freighter, Phasma could easily see it had been in Resistance hands. She did a visual check as they approached, but there were no signs of life outside of the ship within her scannable range.

The hatch popped open with a slight hiss.

"Wait here."

"Captain?"

She turned her head towards the Trooper from her transport. "Did you not hear me?"

The Trooper lifted their chin slightly. "Wait here. Yes, Captain."

Phasma stepped in and was mildly surprised when the BB unit from Jakku made a rude noise at her and rolled away.

"BB-8, don't antagonize our guest."

She stepped past the bulkhead and blinked at the stupid flyboy sitting in front of a single X-Wing resting vertically in its transport slot. "What _are_ you doing?"

He spread his empty hands. "Talking." He patted the BB unit as the droid rolled around behind him. "At least I'm hoping we're talking and not shooting." He gestured at the empty chair across from him. "Want a seat?"

She took in the holding bay without moving her head as she slowly approached the chair. "I suppose you will demand I disarm."

"Nah." He smiled at her and waved at the seat. "Seriously. Talking."

Phasma sat. "I would have thought the Resistance would be more organized than this."

"Well, we weren't expecting you to get near this ship for a while, that's for sure." He made a wide gesture. "Came in handy at D'Qar though."

She suppressed the desire to snort at that. "And what do you want to talk about, Commander Dameron?"

"Names."

"Names?"

He nodded. "Names. I keep giving them to Stormtroopers that want them. You don't seem to need one though, do you?"

She folded her hands in her lap as her passive scans scrolled across her helmet's readout. She toggled for infrared vision and rescanned the area. The BB unit made a slight halo around the edges of Dameron. "My designation is of no consequence."

"Uh huh." He tilted his head. "Why'd you call on a plain channel? You had to know we could hear it."

She toggled back to normal vision. "Even you could grasp the significance in light of what you have taken from the FIrst Order."

"I think taken is a bit harsh. Rescued. Maybe, kidnapped slightly until they find out what we offer in food, but we haven't _taken_ from the First Order." He folded his arms across his chest. "I'll give you liberated. How about that?"

Phasma narrowed her eyes at him. "Liberated? To what? Fight for your Resistance mindlessly?"

Dameron lifted his chin. "We give everyone a choice, Captain. Do you ever get a choice in anything or do you solely follow orders?"

She stood up. "I made my choice, Commander Poe. Stand up. You are now my prisoner. Do not make me shoot you. I'd hate to hit the BB unit. Such loyalty in a droid is quite rare."

He smiled as he stood and offered her his bare wrists. "Don't even think about hurting BB-8."

She frowned as she approached, tensely waiting for whatever trap he had her in to spring. She kept waiting even as she slipped on the quick restraints from her belt. She kept an eye on the BB unit as she hauled him towards the hatch.

The Trooper were where she had left them. The scans of the area were still the same. Phasma waited for the BB unit to roll out of the ship before tiggering the hatch to shut.

She pointed at the nearer Trooper. "Stand guard." She shoved Dameron at the other Trooper. "Bring him."

She shortened her stride to let the shorter Trooper keep up more easily as they went into the base.

****

Finn kept his post against the wall of the Assembly Hall feeling itchy in the armor Captain Romi had pulled together for him to wear for this. Captain Phasma walked in followed by Poe and Zeroes in his borrowed armor. He made himself stay still as the old headache started to press on him again.

He blinked at the sweat starting to form along his brow. He thumbed his body glove controls to cool him down and tried to look like a part of the wall as Captain Phasma pointed for Poe to be put in the middle of the stage.

BB-8 kept near Poe and didn't turn to look at Finn just like they'd talked about, so that was something.

Captain Romi appeared from the corridor with a Trooper escort of Phasma's Troopers. Finn kept still. He knew several of them, but they were more likely to realize Zeroes was the Trooper next to Poe than they were to notice him.

"Captain Phasma?"

"Assembly your students, Commander."

Finn sucked in sharp, cutoff breath. Captain Romi had told them about picking out children and putting them in the tunnels with the Resistance liaison to learn to be more normal children. Even if someone could get them into armor fast enough they'd look wrong after being coached into being kids.

Poe licked his lip and turned his head like he was looking around. He made a gesture as his head was turned away from Finn.

Finn wanted to groan. He didn't know New Republic hand signals. Zeroes shifted next to Poe.

"Of course, Captain. It will take a few minutes."

"Quickly, Commander."

Captain Romi inclined his head and spoke into his comm unit.

Poe squared his shoulders. "Going to kill me in front of the kids, huh?"

Captain Phasma cuffed Poe on the head. "Be quiet until you are spoken to."

Finn bit his lip as he tried to decide if he should hit his panic button now or wait.

****

Kaleine frowned up at Snap. "Is there a problem?"

Snap narrowed his eyes at her. "Where are all of you? Usually we get at least half of you at dinner, Kaleine."

"Shift changes so the night shifts get daylight."

"The lights are full spectrum, you know."

Kaleine blinked at him.

Snap patted her shoulder. "They'll all be back soon, Kaleine."

She nodded. "I know." She grinned up at him until he offered her a ration bar. She pocketed it as she hurried down the corridor.

Noilo met her as the next corridor crossing. "Bean says we need an adult to get our blasters out of the armory."

"Ah, kriff." Kaleine bit her lip as she mentally went through the adults they could convince to help. She turned her head to look towards Medical. "Alright, I'll get our adult. Everyone agreed?"

Noilo nodded. "Closed ballot, unanimous. We're good."

Kaleine nodded. "Meet me at the armory." She skirted the adult night patrol and slipped into Satine's room. "I need your help."

She uncurled from the top of the Code Six. "Work?"

Kaleine nodded. "Work." She held out her hand. "Follow?"

Satine grabbed up water pouches and stuffed her pockets. "Work."

"We're going to find you an Encryption Trooper someday, I promise." She stepped past the adults she'd dropped on the way in. "Hurry."

Getting to the Armory actually went better than Kaleine had expected. Bean accepted Satine's signature to release their helmets and blasters.

Kaleine tried to get Satine to go back, but she kept a hold of Kaleine's hand. "Done now, Satine."

"Work."

"No."

"Work."

Kaleine frowned as Noilo appeared at her shoulder. "What do we do? We have to go now if we're going to make it in time to be there to help."

"Take her with us?"

Kaleine tried to pry Satine's fingers loose. "Tactically she is more valuable than our adults combined. If we lose her we're going to be in so much trouble."

"What will they do to us, Kaleine? Tell us we shouldn't have and not to do it again, right?"

She eyed him for a moment before huffing. "I'm in so much trouble as it is. Let's go."

****

Leia groaned as something poked her in the shoulder again.

"Wake up, Leia."

"Go 'way, Han. I'm sleep-ing." She rolled over and pulled the pillow over her head.

"Leia. The entire set of kids just stole my ship and my Wookie with it."

Leia sat up. "What? Don't joke, Han. Someone would have alerted me."

Han spread his faintly glowing hands. "Well, currently half the base is knocked out, half is asleep, and from what I gather from C-3PO's grumbling most of the droids just ignore the kids unless they run right into them."

"Oh, kriffing _hell_." She threw back her bedcovers and set about finding some pants.

****

Jaydavi pulled on the controls as the kids wrangled Chewie. "No one thought to tell him what we're doing?"

Kaleine closed the cockpit door as the fight raged through the main part of the ship. "If he didn't know he couldn't tell anyone."

Satine pulled circuits along one wall. "Work."

Jaydavi eyed her. "Careful, Boost. Don't pull anything from the wall on your left. I don't want to die today."

Elle snorted as she adjusted her headset. "Think they'll let us fly again after this?"

Jaydavi shrugged. "Probably. X-Wings can't fight TIEs by themselves."

****

Jessika mentally cussed Dameron as she watched the tiny specks below that could only be Phasma pulling Poe from the freighter. She hated waiting. Waiting in null gravity with her ship powered down to minimal was even worse. She kept an one eye on oxygen levels and the other on the panel that would start an alarm when, because it was going to be _when_ something went wrong, and someone hit their panic button.

She blew out a slow breath as the minutes slid past. She was so bored. She forcefully reminded herself she was just as bored as everyone else they had hanging out here waiting for Poe to need them.

She frowned as the base started moving kids towards the big hall. "Oh, no." She rechecked the panic signal, but no one had sounded.

The transport that had brought Phasma was still in place. No new ships...Jess cursed as the _Millennium Falcon_ swooped in low across the horizon towards the base. She bit her lip and was about to click her comms when it came to life.

"Blue Three?" Master Skywalker's voice sounded tense.

"I saw it. Got a plan?"

Rey's voice was just as tense when she came on-line. "Just the transport ship came, right?"

"Yes."

Jess was pleased Skywalker sounded so certain about that. "I say we wait. No one's hit their panic button yet, and she already knows Poe is here. The _Falcon_ could be his get away, right?"

"We wait."

****

Poe watched as the children marched in, silent except for their footfalls. Korro was on his right just behind him and Finn was one of the statues along the wall. He eyed Phasma as she seemed to watch the children coming in.

The helmet made it difficult to tell where she was actually looking. No wonder Korro missed his armor. Being able to look around without everyone knowing would be nice right about now. Poe bit the inside of his cheek as the last group came in.

Phasma shifted. "Commander?"

"One squad was across the base, Captain. They are coming."

"We'll wait."

Poe looked at Captain Romi from the corner of his eye. Poe wished they'd had convinced him to take a panic button. Poe wished they could have risked one on him, because he'd have hit it by now.

Down the corridor came the echo of marching feet.

Poe could see Captain Romi blink. A couple of the adults in the sea of children straightened slightly. As they marched in Poe wanted to kiss them and kick all their little asses all at the same time.

Kaleine halted her group and stared up at Phasma.

"You seem slightly more organized than the adults you've decided to side with, KN-0103."

She took off her helmet and tucked it under her arm. "I think you misunderstand your position, Captain."

Phasma snorted. "Really?"

Kaleine looked over Poe and turned her attention back to Phasma. "You brought a single transport with no way to call in reinforcements because the Resistance controls the Timing Channel which controls your ability to call with encryption, which means no one would believe you even if they got the message. You have a handful of Troopers you can be certain of and a number of under-trained, under-height children who don't trust you, but have grown up with me."

"And you think that will frighten me?"

Kaleine came up the steps onto the stage and stopped several feet from them. "No. You're a Stormtrooper. We know we are going to die." She smiled at Poe before looking up at Phasma again. "Thing is, with the Resistance, I get to decide when to risk bringing on that death."

"The Resistance has taken from the First Order and I will recover what has been stolen."

"Will you?" Kaleine tilted her head and frowned up at Phasma. "Why are you so tall? You're very tall."

"What?"

"Tall." Kaleine held her hand over her own head and waved it. "You're lots taller than the Princess General." She turned towards Poe. "Do you think I'm going to get that tall?"

"Not really the..."

"If you take after your father probably, but if you favor his mother, no."

Poe turned with everyone to stare at Phasma. "What?"

Phasma took a deep breath and bent her head to look down at Kaleine. "Is she alright? Eating okay?"

"She likes the blue food that wiggles when you move the bowl." Kaleine frowned. "We're bred. I know that, but how do you know who my father is?"

Phasma lifted her blaster from it's holster and handed the blaster to Zeroes as she dug into the holster's lining. "You _are_ KN-0103, correct?"

"I was." Kaleine glanced at Poe, but the best he had was to shrug at her. 

What the kriffing hell did he know, except when he got off this rock he was getting a genetic scanner before he went back to face the wrath of the General.

Phasma pulled a slip of data flim from under the inside lining of her holster. "Here."

Kaleine took it gingerly and hurried down the steps to her platoon. A few of them huddle up on her and they whisper fought among themselves.

"If you are lying to her, I will skin you."

Phasma inclined her head. "Threat received."

Poe nodded once as he felt Zeroes move a little closer.

Kaleine came back up the steps. "Noilo says I was a single breed, ordered specifically. It says you signed off on the order."

Phasma lifted her helmet off and held it out towards Poe. "Don't touch any of the switches, flyboy."

Poe took it carefully.

Phasma crouched down to Kaleine's level. "What would you do if your best soldiers were killed because they were less important than the floor you are standing on to the leader you are suppose to be loyal to above all else? How long would it take you do decide to act against him?"

"You don't need me to decide to act."

"No, but I needed something to make your father side with me when I do act. I need Boost as well."

Kaleine narrowed her eyes. "You're taking a risk doing it this way, aren't you?"

"Yes. Everything I do is a risk and could potentially get me killed." Phasma smiled. "I didn't tell General Hux were I was going. I've made a habit of taking a transport out for several days at a time. I bring only the Troopers I know to be Boost's."

"Do you know if there's an Encryption Trooper? We need one."

Phasma blinked several times and looked up at Poe. "Perhaps you are more organized than I thought, Commander Poe."

Poe nodded absently as he mentally frowned at her calling him that again. Why was she...

From the corridor came running footsteps.

Phasma had her helmet back on and was standing by the time Satine slid into view with Jaydavi on her heels. "Then again..."

Satine hurried forward, shaking off Jaydavi trying to hold her back. "Sister!" She made a hand signal Poe didn't know. "Sister!"

Phasma started towards her, but Zeroes put her blaster to her back.

"Halt, Captain."

Satine stopped at Kaline's back with Jaydavi pulling on her shirt and several of the other children huddled up around her to keep her from getting closer.

Phasma turned her head just slightly. "The ill fighting armor, of course."

"I admit that worried me." Zeroes leaned sideways. "Kaleine, why did you bring her?"

Kaleine winced. "She insisted and we were up against the deadline to leave."

There was a blur from the corridor and everyone scattered as TA-175 slid across the stage to force itself between Zeroes and Captain Phasma.

Poe groaned as Kaleine slipped his restraints off. "What the kriffing hell, TA-175, what are you _doing_?"

"This unit protects all of Commander Poe's soldiers."

Poe looked at Captain Phasma as Rey, Luke, Elle, and Pava peeked in from the hallway. He waved at them. "We're more or less fine. Luke, I need you to read a hand signal."

Luke waved the others to stay at the door as he came forward.

Satine kept trying to inch closer to Phasma. "Sister."

Poe pointed as she made the hand signal again. "That one."

Luke stared at Satine and then looked at Phasma. "You..." He looked back at Satine. "Really?"

Phasma tilted her head. "How did you get her encryption state down so low? This is the least coded I've seen her in years."

Poe poked Luke in the back. "What'd she say?"

"She's saying Nightsister."

Kaleine looked up at Luke. "Is that important?"

"Possibly." Luke looked at Phasma. "Do you know what it means?"

Phasma lifted her chin. "She's always called me that." Phasma shifted slightly and Poe recognized it as something he'd seen all of the ex-Stormtroopers do when they were unsure about speaking up.

"Who else called you that?"

Phasma wiped her head around to look his direction. "You know nothing, flyboy."

Luke frowned. "Answer his question."

She sighed and reached up for her helmet.

Poe ducked to the side as Finn rushed past him to rip the helmet off her. "Finn?"

Finn shucked his helmet too. "Kill switch."

Phasma huffed. "I wasn't going to trigger that." She turned her head towards Luke and blinked. "You are thin through the face. Is that why you have that horrid facial hair?"

Luke smiled. "Answer the question, Phasma."

Satine wiggled her way closer.

Phasma nodded at her. "Let her go. She'll settle down once she's touched me. I won't hurt her."

Poe shrugged as Luke looked at him. "She hasn't shot anyone yet."

With a frown Luke moved closer and out to one side until TA-175 started to mirror him. "Yet being the important word in that sentence." He nodded at Jaydavi. "Let her go."

Satine scrambled forward and wrapped herself around Phasma's legs for a moment before grabbing up Phasma's discarded helmet. She hunched over it, muttering to herself.

"Phasma, answer Poe's question."

"Once." She watched Satine. "When I was still in Pool. A redhead C-unit said I would have made a good Nightsister. No one else seemed to notice her. She didn't do any of the normal jobs of a C-unit, but that was the uniform she wore. She disappeared after a few days."

Luke drew a sharp breath. He reached into a belt pouch and pulled out a holo projector. "Is this her?"

Phasma caught the projector and looked over the holo capture. "That's her. She's older in this picture than when I saw her." She held the projector back out. "I've never been able to find a mention of Nightsisters in First Order records."

Luke took it and tucked it away. "They were a group of Force users from the days before the Empire. None survive that I know of."

"Last."

Everyone turned to look at Satine.

She pulled on Phasma's leg armor. "Keep save."

Phasma frowned at her. "Really? The flyboy?"

Kaleine glared. "Commander Poe!"

Satine grinned. "Keeper of the Tree."

Phasma froze, even her breathing stopped for several seconds. She blinked and dropped to kneel in front of Satine. "Names?"

Satine grinned at her and turned Phasma's helmet over and over in her hands. "Names."

Phasma reached out with shaking hands. "Siding with the Resistance is a death sentence."

Satine smiled wide. "Names."

Poe shrugged as Phasma glanced their direction. "She seems to like the one I gave her."

Phasma shook her head. "Like _you_ know her proper name."

Zeroes knelt down next to them. "Her name is Satine."

"Boost."

Phasma's trembling grew worse as she cupped Satine's shoulders. "Keep save?"

"Good."

Phasma nodded. "I need to press on her head and back. On my Troopers' lives I'm not going to hurt her. Understand me, Jedi Prince?"

Luke jerked slightly, but nodded. "Since you took the helmet off and I can read you now, yes, Phasma, I understand."

Phasma slid her fingers across Satine's scalp and down the back of her neck.

Satine sighed and flopped over sideways. She fiddled with Phasma's helmet while everyone stood around awkwardly watching.

Kaleine leaned against Poe's side. "What's she doing?"

Phasma smiled at Kaleine. "You asked for an Encryption Trooper, didn't you? Since Korro is alive you now have a full set of Boost's Troopers. I still don't see her logic in making FN-2187 a Roll Trooper. I kept telling her Patches would be better, but she kept insisting Korro's Patches, Finn is Roll, and none of the rest of his squad were taught."

Korro frowned down at her. "You know my new name?"

Phasma worked her way down Satine's back. "She changed the Roll. None of the Code Sixes will authenticate anything. There's rumour of a ship with officers locked out of their quarters. The _Finalizer_ can't get the navigation computer unlocked because it rolled its code after the change."

Poe looked at Luke to check that he didn't think she was lying. "Last I knew we only had one Patch Trooper."

"The Troopers with me. The three Patch Troopers that make a full set with Korro, one Repair Trooper, and two Node Troopers." Phasma sat back. "Satine?"

Satine sat up and shook herself. She ran her scarred hands over her own arms. "Oh, that's much better." She smiled at Phasma. "Thank you, Sister." She reached into Phasma's helmet in a flash and flicked a switch as Phasma and Finn both lunged for her.

"No!"

Satine and Phasma landed in a tangle with Finn next to them. TA-175 shifted to keep between Korro's blaster and the group on the floor.

"I'm fine, Phasma. Calm down."

"You hit the kill switch, what were you thinking..." She frowned as she sat up. "Why didn't the needle strike?" She pulled her helmet from Satine's grip and peered down into it. "Is it malfunctioning?"

"No, it's working as intended. Snoke can remotely trigger the kill switches and I wasn't about to lose you that way." Satine stood up and brushed herself off. "TA-175, you can stand down if Commander Poe says so. No one is going to injure Phasma."

TA-175 turned its optics towards Poe.

Poe made down motions. "Stand down." He looked at Satine. "What does the switch do if it doesn't kill her?"

Satine shrugged. "I can't remember when I'm unencrypted. That's the whole point of it."

Luke blinked. "You locked your Code Six knowledge away so you can be tortured, but can't give up what you can't remember."

She nodded. "Exactly. I can still knock you on your ass if you Force push me. I don't need the wires for it, they just defend where I'm not."

Poe cocked his head. "You remember what happens while you're encrypted?"

She smiled and held Phasma's helmet out towards her. "Yes, I just can't tell you a single communications thing right now. You were very nice to show me the food pouch wasn't poisoned. Thank you for that."

"Oh, ah. You don't really need to thank me for that."

Satine yawned. "Trust me that I do." She ran a hand down Phasma's arm. "Captain Romi's Code Six works fine so you're listed as dead now, Sister. I killed you on the List before coming after Kaleine."

Phasma dropped her helmet. "Dead?"

Satine patted her on the arm. "Don't take it so hard. You'll like the Resistance food better. Promise."

Phasma eyed Poe as BB-8 rolled close to peer at Satine. "I blame you for this, flyboy."

Poe gave her a grin as he shrugged. "If you don't want to become Resistance, we won't make you."

She smiled grimly at him. "If you are going to incite a rebellion in my Troopers you're going to need better organization."

****


End file.
